Gallery of paintings: Shelley Upton

Artist's statement

Cynefin

The chosen title of Picturemakers first collaborative exhibition, Cynefin, has particular resonance for me as someone now closely involved with computers and knowledge management. Wikipedia, not always a trustworthy fount of knowledge, but currently fairly accurate in this area speaks of Cynefin thus:

The name Cynefin is a Welsh word which translates literally into English as 'habitat' or 'place'. A more correct translation would be the sense that we all have multiple pasts of which we are only partly aware: cultural, religious, geographic, tribal etc. The name seeks to remind us that all human interactions are strongly influenced and frequently determined by our experiences, both through the direct influence of personal experience, and through collective experience, such as stories or music.

Cynefin in the sense of computer software is a framework, freely available to all, which defines five ways of making sense of a complicated world. For me, drawing and painting and meeting regularly with my "Critical Friends", the other Picturemakers is my personal Cynefin framework, my way of making sense of my very varied and pressured working world.

My paintings in this exhibition draw upon sketches made one of the university glasshouses, a magical place where winter becomes summer and time stands still and the glasshouse cat snores quietly in the corner - until watering time! I hope you enjoy them.

Abergwesyn

Two works on this page are part of a series about the Abergwesyn mountain road, the old drovers' track which stretches for about 20 miles between the small hamlet of Abergwesyn and the market town of Tregaron. Edward I granted a market charter to Tregaron in 1292 and from the time of the first Elizabeth until the railway came drovers gathered in the market square to drive their cattle to the London markets. The mountain road, often impassable in winter, is a strange, spectacularly beautiful place with roads that twist and turn, often through narrow tunnels of trees, to emerge above breathtaking vistas of mountain, lake and forest.

Arthur and Mary

I was thrilled when my small oil painting Arthur, going to Aberystwyth without Mary for the first time was highly commended at the Tabernacl Art Competition, 2008, at the Museum of Modern Art, Wales, Machynlleth. I often used to see Athur and his wife Mary on the bus going shopping, but in all the years I saw them I never once saw them speak to each other. I used to think it was sad that after apparently so many years of marriage, they no longer seemed to like each other enough even to to talk, but one day as they got off, Arthur turned round to give his hand to steady Mary as she got off and for the first time I saw them share a smile. As they walked towards the town, they remained hand in hand, walking slowly and comfortably in step with each other reminding me of Leonard Cohen's line Walking to the corner, our steps will always rhyme. They intrigued me and I painted portraits of them both from memory.

It was a cold, wet, winter and I only saw them together once more after that soft smile. Mary was walking with difficulty, leaning on Arthur's arm for support. The next time I saw Arthur he was alone. Arthur went to Machylleth alone too, but perhaps one day I will reunite them by having them framed together.